Yodel invests to boost network capacity

Yodel is investing in new sites to provide additional capacity – particularly in the peak Christmas period.
The company, which has seen parcel volumes increasing by 13 per cent year on year, will open a new site a Alfreton this month to add to larger service centres already opened at Northampton, Selby and Farnborough.
The Alfreton site will be fully operational by the end of July 2015, and will be able to handle 34,000 parcels per day, allowing for business and volume growth in the Midlands region.
Selby which opened in October last year, includes a 66,000 sq ft distribution facility. Yodel is currently investing to raise its capacity to 22,000 parcels per day.
The service centres receives trailers of parcels from Yodel’s three central sorts, sited at Shaw, Wednesbury and Hatfield. Parcels are then processed and sent out for delivery.
All the home delivery carriers got caught out by the huge spike in demand generated by “Black Friday”. In January Yodel’s executive chairman Dick Stead suggested that: “Working together, we need to find a method of spreading volatile parcel volumes to match the industry capacity, while delivering a high quality service that meets everyone’s requirements. That may mean that 48 and 72 hour services become the standard during peak periods, and where required, next day deliveries are available for a premium.”
He said: “By Christmas Eve we had not only delivered on our promises but also successfully delivered an additional 388,000 parcels, which were not due until after Christmas, ahead of schedule.”
Yodel said it is planning to open more sites this year. This new service centre strategy also works towards removing the requirement for temporary additional satellite sites during peak times, such as Christmas, when parcel volumes increase dramatically.
Stead said: “These recent investments form part of a phased plan to increase the capacity and quality of Yodel’s service centre infrastructure, evidence of our long term aims within the UK parcel market. The developments demonstrate the on-going commitment of our shareholders and are a vote of confidence for the team here who continuously strive to deliver a high quality service to our clients and their customers.”